â€œMy little crazy beloved was serving me dinner, and through thedining roomâ€™s open window I was contemplating the moving architecturesthat God fashions from vapors, the marvelous constructions of theimpalpable. And I was saying to myself, through my contemplation, â€˜Allthose phantasmagorias are almost as beautiful as the eyes of my beautifulbeloved, my little green-eyed monstrous madwoman.â€™ And suddenly I received a violent punch in the back, and I hearda hoarse and charming voice, a hysterical voice and husky as if frombrandy, the voice of my dear little beloved, which was saying, â€˜Will youever eat your soup, you goddamn cloud peddler!â€™â€ -Charles Baudelaire â€œThe Soup And The Cloudsâ€

The prose poem is controversial by reputation and design. But what arewe all afraid of? Why must a genre that intentionally subverts theconventions of poetry and the expectations of proseâ€”a genre that subvertsthe definition of genre itselfâ€”rattle the rigid walls of the ivorytower?

We welcome passionate discussion of the prose poem. We welcomearticulate discussion of conventional genres in literature. We evenwelcome discussion of â€œnon-literatureâ€ or â€œwould-be literatureâ€ limitedto online or private publication (or to publication that is neveractually seen because it is â€œoutsideâ€ the â€œmainstreamâ€ and thereforehas â€œno audienceâ€) due to the stogy expectations of corporate,controlling, popular, contemporary publishing. In short, allâ€”including â€œtranswritersâ€ (or writers of prose poems)â€”are welcome.

Panel proposals should be no more than 500 words, paper abstracts shouldbe no more than 350 words, all submitted by November 1, 2007. Pleaseinclude home and office numbers, complete mailing address, e-mailaddress, professional affiliation, and AV requirements with yoursubmission.

Please submit all proposals and any questions to asu2008symp_at_gmail.com.